RA & Wagner 28-30 April 2023

 ARGHH - traffic....

We left Melbourne at 4.30, and arrived in Inglewood at 8pm - 3.5 hours later, and it wasn't even a long weekend

Sure it was raining a bit, and there were a few broken down cars or accidents, but that was ridiculous, it took about 1.75 hours just to get to the service station at Calder Park 

Justin was also wearing his new contact lenses, and wanted to take them out once we got to Inglewood - however he discovered that the water wasn't turned on at the house.  ARGHH again

I contacted Craig - 2IC  to see if he could advise, and luckily he said the plumber would have just forgotten to turn it back on

Poor old Justin's eye's were pretty sore by this time, as he was having trouble taking the contacts out, so I went down into the garden, and turned it back on.  All good, we could relax now

Saturday morning, and Mark from Restoration Australia arrived around 10am with another cameraman - Steve

They initially set up on the veranda - and luckily it was a lovely sunny day 

They wanted an "origin" story from us - ie how we met, why we bought the house etc 

Next up we went down the road to the.... 

whoops - looks like I forgot to finish this....as its now 13th June!

Anyway, next we went up the road to the old Eucy/Goldmining "ruins" - and did some further filming

Saw a very colourful spider while there

Unfortunately the pants I was wearing were a magnet/velcro for the eager weeds

This is all the weeds once both Justin and I had pulled them off

Had a quick lunch outside in the sun - and Justin played his guitar

Then they wanted us to drive around town a bit in the ute with the Inglewood Yacht Club Commodore magnet affixed to the doors - Mark attached the camera to the side window and we communicated via my mobile phone on my lap - didn't take any photos of this

They also had us walk down the street to see Steve and Denise - and sit at a table with them outside their shop - having a chat and a pretend coffee

After Mark left - I went around the garden and picked more pomegranates

And also admired the Autumn colours of the grapevine leaves

And Justin took a few photos - of how we were living/coping there without a downstairs bathroom or kitchen

But at least there's a bit of progress with the bathroom ie waterproofed floor, bath in situ etc. We also wondered about the shower head being seemingly above the tiled area - it isn't the tiles will go beyond the blue  

The kitchen however is still a shell

So we have an interim kitchen in the scullery - with not terribly much bench space - what with the coffee machine, toaster,  kettle, and George Foreman sandwich press there.  We also have the microwave and benchtop oven on the washing machine and dishwasher - but we make it work

On Sunday we met up with Mark P in Bendigo at the Dispensary for an early lunch at 12 noon

Parked up near the Ulumbarra Theatre (old jail) in preparation for the Wagner opera that were seeing at 2pm

Walked down past the Botanic Gardens and saw and heard  screeching bats in some of the trees

The Dispensary was very good, started with a negroni, and had the chefs platter for lunch.  Surprisingly, not many restaurants are open on a Sunday for lunch in Bendigo - we were lucky to get this one - about a 10 minute walk away from the theatre

Finished lunch around 1.30 - and then walked to the theatre.  It was the last part of the 4 part Wagner Ring Cycle - Gotterdammerung, and Susan wasn't with us - as she was at a work conference in San Francisco.  Anyway, Mark and Susan had originally booked tickets to see it in Brisbane last year or the year before, but it was cancelled due to covid, so when we heard that it was going to be performed in Bendigo - we thought we might go

Didn't get organised in enough time, so just saw the last one - bought B reserve tickets for $275 each

Anyway, we certainly got our money's worth - as it started at 2pm, but didn't finish til 8.45pm - ie 6 3/4 hours!.. Granted there were 2 x intermissions to get out and stretch your legs / have something to eat or drink

So, the show was good .....but the story somewhat silly.  In the first act, I think we all at times napped a little, it was warm, it was dark....

We also saw Rachel during the 2nd intermission  

Anyway, I was glad to have seen it - but once is probably enough.  

Luckily no kangaroos on the way back - and we got home around 11, and straight to bed

 

   

Daisy Glass mistake 18/4/23

Well, up to Inglewood for a few hours as I needed to let the glaziers in to replace the clear bathroom glass with frosted toughened daisy glass

and to also replace the window in the big yellow room that Vic cracked

I got up there about 11.40am, and the glaziers were supposed to come at 12, Connie and her grand daughter were also dropping in, and Mark from up the road was going to come and measure up for the powder room vanity.

I was pleased to see that there had been some progress in the ensuite, water proofing of the floor, and a frame built for the bath

As it was, they all came nearly at the same time, first Connie and her grand daughter, so I showed them around a bit, then the glazier - showed him which windows needed replacing, and then Mark.

Because it was all happening at once, Connie left so that I could concentrate on the tradies. (she very kindly left me a pie and sausage roll from the Bridgewater bakery)

First up with Mark - and the measurements for the powder room vanity  - and then went outside and discussed the possibility of a gazebo outside the dining room wall. He measured up, and will provide a rough quote.  It won't be possible for a while anyway, as there is too much rubbish around.

So he finished up, and I went back to the glazier

He told me that the windows had been measured wrong - and the glass was too small.....

Once again I was gutted.....we'd been told to measure from wood to wood - which we had done.  In fact, I asked both Cam the builder  and Justin to measure and they arrived at the same measurements. I was then told to subtract 1.5mm from each side - which we did - and I also sent photos of each window and put everything/assumptions in writing via both text and email

Anyway, the glazier said they should have been measured from the outside - not the inside - as the wood is rebated inside, and therefore the window is "larger" from the outside.  Therefore the specially ordered daisy glass pieces were too small - arghh! And even if they'd been too big, they couldn't have been cut down to size, because they're toughened glass

I assume that the yellow room glass was also too small, but it was normal glass, so he may have cut it to size himself - I didn't ask - but he did replace that one.  And will need to come back for the other 2

Then I was off to Bendigo - to pick up the Jacobean lounge suite that we were going to have refurbished - but in the end it was just too expensive, they weren't worth anything near what the refurbishments costs were  - it would have been very much over capitalising

We had tried to sell them cheaply - but no one is interested....

Nigel the upholsterer helped me secure the load (actually mostly did it himself) - as I didn't want to lose anything on the Calder Highway.  

Got back to Melbourne - load intact, didn't feel like it was a very productive day, as I was very much looking forward to getting rid of those stupid curtains in the bathrooms - oh well, a tiny bit of progress, at least the vanity for the powder room was measured up  

 

Easter 2023 Thursday 6th - Monday 10th April

Given that it was a long weekend - there was no point leaving before 5pm, as the traffic would have been horrendous, so we left Melbourne around 6pm, hoping that the traffic would have quietened down a bit.

It had, but there were a couple of car breakdowns/accidents so that slowed us down

That said, we arrived in Kyneton around 7.45 - 15 minutes late for our dinner booking at Fook Shing.  They didn't mind.  Had the banquet again - and it was delicious - and very good value for money.  I want to go back again - soon!

Left Fook Shing around 9.15pm - and so got to Inglewood around 10.30 - I was driving and it was rainy, so I drove slightly below the limit

Good Friday, and I firstly sanded the ensuite wall parallel to the hallway, - using George's borrowed face mask

After sanding I had to go outside, and beat the dust off my clothes - Justin helped

Justin then painted, and I went into the back hall area to strip the wallpaper.  Cam had thought that we wanted to keep it  - no - so I thought I'd remove it and see if the existing hard plaster was good enough to keep/patch up - seems ok to me 

 

I also wanted to see if I could see Justin in the upstairs hallway and the red room window from the street.  Couldn't really see into the red room because of the fly screen, and could only really see into the hallway when he was standing right by the glass   

Anyway, I continued with the wallpaper stripping - the ceiling was harder than the walls

We can probably patch up the cracks in the walls - but there were also reasonably large gaps in some places between the wall and ceiling 

We also plan to re use the little corner coat hook rack - put it above the basin for hand towels,  Have put it in the hallway with the other timber for safe keeping

And then lunch in the rotunda

We went around to Damo's for drinks in the late afternoon, and met some more of their friends.  JJ was a home gin and beer maker - so it was interesting talking to him

 

Back home for dinner 

Sunday, and Justin did the final coat of the ensuite

And then we drove into Bendigo around 11.00 - to get to the Wine Bank by 12 - figuring we'd have to park 10-20 minutes away

Sat with Terry and his family/friends - ordered some drinks - and the food kept coming ie very good chips, pizzas, arancini balls, lobster rolls, peking duck pancakes etc  

It was supposed to be a rather cold day (The BOM said it would be the coldest Easter in Melbourne for 80 years), so we came prepared, but it wasn't too bad

The  Easter parade rolled on/marched by - concluding with the famous Chinese dragon - the largest one in the Southern hemisphere,  There were marching bands, community floats etc 

A very pleasant way to spend the afternoon

And then on Monday, it was another iconic event - the 150th Rheola Easter Fair (which hasn't happened since 2019 - because of covid)   

We arrived early - around 10 or so, and there weren't that many people there yet.  

Started at the sheep dogs - as they still seemed to be setting up the other activities

Then a wander around the vintage cars - didn't take any photos there

Watched the equestrians

Followed by the tractors

And watched a few tractors competing in the tractor pull

Then back to the sheepdogs, and by then the wood chop had started up

Thought the little kiddy train made out of oil barrels was pretty cute

Saw a few people that we knew - Damo and Nicole, Steve the publican, one of Justin old work colleagues, and one of mine.  Missed a few though - didn't see Rachel or Connie 

Anyway left around 12 or so - back to the house to tidy up, and then back to Melbourne